The present invention relates to a passenger protection device of a vehicle which uses a curtain airbag.
Automotive vehicles as vehicles are generally provided with airbags to protect passengers in a vehicle collision. A curtain airbag among the airbags is configured to be inflated beside a seat, i.e., along an inner face of a side widow glass, in the vehicle collision. The curtain airbag is stored behind a pillar trim and a top ceiling such that the curtain airbag in a stored state extends in a vehicle longitudinal direction, being isolated from an inside of a vehicle compartment.
Since the curtain airbag is configured to be inflated beside the seat where a passenger is seated, in a case in which the vehicle is equipped with three row seats, for example, a longitudinal length of the curtain airbag is configured to be considerably long. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-95055 discloses an airbag which comprises a gas distribution-guide means for distributing and guiding inflating gas in a longitudinal direction from an inflator. Further, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0296928 A1 discloses a device in which a guide portion to guide a curtain airbag toward the inside of the vehicle compartment during the curtain airbag is inflated is provided at an upper portion of the pillar trim.
Since an inflation pressure (a load according to the inflation pressure) acts on the guide portion to guide the curtain airbag provided at the pillar trim toward the inside of the vehicle compartment, the guide portion is required to have a relatively-high rigidity in order to endure (resist against) the inflation pressure. Meanwhile, in a case in which the curtain airbag is applied to the three row seats and the inflation pressure is set to be considerably large, for example, there is a concern that the above-described guide portion may get broken. Herein, it is considered that the rigidity of the guide portion is further increased for prevention of a breakage of the guide portion. In this case, however, it may be a problem how to ensure the safety when a passenger hits against this guide portion in the vehicle collision.